For the salted caramel brittle

Honey and syrups made from concentrated fruit juice were the earliest known sweeteners. Today,…

100g blanched hazelnuts

Method

For the ganache, put the chocolate into a large bowl. Heat the cream in a pan until just boiling, then pour it over the chocolate. Leave for 5 mins, then stir until smooth. Put the ganache to one side to thicken and cool, then chill until needed.

For the caramel sauce, heat the sugar and butter in a pan until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Add the cream, bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

For the brittle, line a baking tray with baking parchment, then put the sugar and 4 tbsp of water in a heavy-based frying pan and heat, without stirring, until golden brown. Stir through the nuts, and pour (in a thin layer) over the parchment. Sprinkle with ½ tsp flaky sea salt and leave to set.

To serve, drizzle each plate with sauce, heat a large spoon in a cup of hot water, then scoop out a curl of chocolate ganache for each plate. Break the brittle into shards and push a piece into each scoop. Sprinkle with crumbled brittle and add a pinch of sea salt.

Comments, questions and tips

This was a fantastic 'show stopping' type course for a dinner party. Lots of processes but straight forward and can be done ahead of time. Also as part of a big meal I would say could even feed 6-8, we had four for dinner and tonnes left over. Be cautious with your brittle - I accidentally made mine too thick as not used to sugar work and it was a hard job breaking it up for serving and eating! As julie955 recommends, I would probably make the hazelnuts fewer but smaller.

jule955

22nd Feb, 2014

The chocolate ganache is very, very rich - I wonder whether a chocolate mousse would make it a bit lighter. The caramel brittle and caramel sauce are both lovely and look very impressive. I made the brittle twice; the second time I only put about 50g of hazelnuts in and I broke them into smaller pieces - I thought it was even better.

tattookitten

21st Jan, 2014

Can you use any other nuts in the brittle as I have a serious hazelnut allergy, but this sounds delish!

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